A number of years ago I spent a limited amount of time working as a consultant for small businesses. One of the things, which we learned and shared with small business owners, is that for any business to succeed, the people owning or operating it need to possess 10 skills. Things like producing the product, selling their inventory or services, accounting, managing time. A person or team will possess between 3 and 6 of those skills naturally, without classes or help of any kind. But if even one of those skills is missing it can take the business down and cause it to fail.

When I would talk with people, we wouldn’t talk about "if" they were missing several of those necessary skills. Instead we would try to identify which ones they were missing. There wasn’t something wrong with them as business owners. They were normal. Nobody had all the necessary skills and interests to be successful. By identifying "shortcomings", people could take the necessary steps to work toward the magic number 10 to enhance their business success.

I wonder if that is the way we all are in our personal lives, too. Do we naturally possess a certain number of skills? But no one person possesses enough of them to be "successful"?  We know of people who are wonderful providers, but turn into workaholics and neglect their families. Or how about a superstar who has millions of dollars but for some reason takes drugs to enhance their happiness. We wonder how they could possible be unhappy, given their fame and fortune. And we have our own lists, even if we "look good" to others.

Is it possible that God made us this way on purpose? That we aren’t complete without Him and His Love? That we can do 3 – 6 things okay on our own, but we can’t seem to get to #10 which provide us ultimate love, peace, and joy?

I think He likes it when we tell Him about all things we are and all of the things we aren’t. Then He begins to change our focus, changes our perspective, and adds some "extra" things on to what we already are. He likes, too, to enhance our strengths, our positives, and make them even better than they were before. God loves us just the way we are, but knows we can be more than we are today.

We can become, not because of who or what we are; but because of Who and What He is!